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An Editorial on Radio Finally Gets Shorter Songs

landtuna said:
When I first began programming (in assembler language) in 1969 (IBM 360-30) it had a whopping 16KB of memory in the foreground. We had to write our online apps so it would either fit inside that space or use a technique called overlays so we could execute the entire program. Windows still uses overlays (it is called the Page File today).
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You just brought back memories of the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) in the early 80's which came in a clear plastic box. I used MASM to create assembler calls to use in dBase and Foxbase and other PM based database applications, and was never more than fair (they worked, but not elegantly I am sure) in assembly language. Most of the calls were to do printable graphics, like charting ratings data via variables transferred from the database program.
 
TheBigA said:
Charlie also played on Dylan's Nashville Skyline, recorded in that same studio. You may not hear it but there was steel guitar in it.
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If you're talking about the Dylan album, the steel is quite noticeable on the hit single "Lay Lady Lay." If you're talking about "The Boxer" the only place there might be steel is the instrumental break after "I was so lonesome I took some comfort there." I was never sure just what that instrument was, though it might have been some sort of electronic keyboard-generated sound.
 
CTListener said:
If you're talking about the Dylan album, the steel is quite noticeable on the hit single "Lay Lady Lay." If you're talking about "The Boxer" the only place there might be steel is the instrumental break after "I was so lonesome I took some comfort there."
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That's it. That's Pete Drake, who was the go-to steel guy then. It was chorused with a piccolo trumpet, which is why it doesn't sound like a steel guitar. Very Penny Lane. And yes Pete played on Lay Lady Lay. Charlie McCoy played harmonica on The Boxer, which is the loud rhythm instrument that you hear on the left channel. Also Bob Moore played bass on the track, and he was best known for his work with Elvis. But Elvis stopped recording in Nashville by 1969.
 
TheBigA said:
That's Fred Carter Jr. father of country singer Deana Carter. Fred played acoustic guitar on a lot of hit songs. I think that was an unusual guitar he was playing as well. That particular one was recorded in Columbia's new Studio A in Nashville, with Fred and hall of famer Charlie McCoy. Charlie also played on Dylan's Nashville Skyline, recorded in that same studio. You may not hear it but there was steel guitar in it. Producer Roy Halee brought those basic tracks to New York where the strings were added at the end.
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I knew there must have been a hook. Nashville Skyline has been one of my overall favorite albums since I bought it in 1969.
 
DavidEduardo said:


You just brought back memories of the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) in the early 80's which came in a clear plastic box. I used MASM to create assembler calls to use in dBase and Foxbase and other PM based database applications, and was never more than fair (they worked, but not elegantly I am sure) in assembly language. Most of the calls were to do printable graphics, like charting ratings data via variables transferred from the database program.
Click to expand...

I was a mainframe guy until the early 90's when my company finally decided to employ PC's as employee workstations. I didn't do much programming with Microsoft products preferring to stay with the mainframe suite which was much more stable. Since my employer manufactured microprocessors they wanted to be leading edge on the use of PC's so they tossed all the mainframers out and spent millions replacing their mainframe applications.
 
landtuna said:
When I first began programming (in assembler language) in 1969 (IBM 360-30) it had a whopping 16KB of memory in the foreground. We had to write our online apps so it would either fit inside that space or use a technique called overlays so we could execute the entire program. Windows still uses overlays (it is called the Page File today).
Click to expand...

A bit of trivia: the Windows pagefile, PAGEFILE.SYS, came from VMS; the two operating systems shared the same father, namely Dave Cutler.
 
landtuna said:
When I first began programming (in assembler language) in 1969 (IBM 360-30) it had a whopping 16KB of memory in the foreground. We had to write our online apps so it would either fit inside that space or use a technique called overlays so we could execute the entire program. Windows still uses overlays (it is called the Page File today).
Click to expand...
I've programmed in IBM 360 assembler language! We called it assembly, but same thing. I'm not sure what we actually did because the college's computer was a Burroughs.
 
vchimpanzee said:
I've programmed in IBM 360 assembler language! We called it assembly, but same thing. I'm not sure what we actually did because the college's computer was a Burroughs.
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Assembler languages were usually proprietary to the hardware manufacturer. I wrote for both IBM and Honeywell and the language was very different to both.

In the early mainframe days manufacturers tended to favor specific customers. IBM=business & "small" scientific, Honeywell= government, Burroughs=banking, Cray="big" scientific.
 
landtuna said:
Assembler languages were usually proprietary to the hardware manufacturer. I wrote for both IBM and Honeywell and the language was very different to both.

In the early mainframe days manufacturers tended to favor specific customers. IBM=business & "small" scientific, Honeywell= government, Burroughs=banking, Cray="big" scientific.
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A 2GL usually had a name that was somewhat uninspired. As I recall, the assembly language of the IBM 360 was named BAL (Basic Assembly Language). Sound familiar? Your mention of [Seymour] Cray evokes memories of my CDC days, during which I programmed in COMPASS (COMPrehensive ASSember). (I still have a couple of programs stored on Hollerith cards!)
 
Kemosabe said:
A 2GL usually had a name that was somewhat uninspired. As I recall, the assembly language of the IBM 360 was named BAL (Basic Assembly Language). Sound familiar? Your mention of [Seymour] Cray evokes memories of my CDC days, during which I programmed in COMPASS (COMPrehensive ASSember). (I still have a couple of programs stored on Hollerith cards!)
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HELP! I've fallen into a time warp and I can't get out!!!!! :)
 
CTListener said:
This is the most extreme example of "thread drift" I can ever recall seeing!
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Certainly far from song length, but not far from radio. The development of CPUs and miniaturization paved the way to transmitters with "smart" control functions, much better logic-based remote control, program automation that could do basic decision processes and then to computers doing traffic, billing, music scheduling and everything else that had been manual or paper-based.
 
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CTListener said:
This is the most extreme example of "thread drift" I can ever recall seeing!
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I'm probably guilty of that as much as anyone on this forum but I always consider the educational effect it might have on other members. It isn't my desire to kill one subject with another.
 
landtuna said:
I'm probably guilty of that as much as anyone on this forum but I always consider the educational effect it might have on other members. It isn't my desire to kill one subject with another.
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No problem. I'm not in radio nor am I an IT guy, but I'm sure all this is fascinating to those who are. I could add to the wandering thread with tales of Computype, Hendrix, and other early electronic typesetting systems I cursed at at newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s, but I'd likely be entertaining no one but myself.
 
CTListener said:
No problem. I'm not in radio nor am I an IT guy, but I'm sure all this is fascinating to those who are. I could add to the wandering thread with tales of Computype, Hendrix, and other early electronic typesetting systems I cursed at at newspapers in the 1970s and 1980s, but I'd likely be entertaining no one but myself.
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Not to change the subject (again) but I always thought one of the most fascinating machines of all time was the modern printing press (modern as in circa 1950). I used to stand outside the windows of the local newspaper printing room and watch them crank out a newspaper (which I then delivered). To this day I have never figured out how anyone designed a machine that could take raw rolls of newsprint and create a ready-to-read paper out of it in one fell swoop. And the rumble and the roar sounded more like a train than anything else. But then (back to subject matter) I also spent a lot of time in the studios of KTKT watching how the DJ's did their work too. DJing was on my bucket list as a kid but I only got as close as a navy radioman.
 
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